What is Cisco Smart License vs Traditional License? What are the differences?

Jul 20 , 2024 817

With the development of science and technology, the needs of enterprises for network infrastructure are also changing. Cisco (Cisco) as the world's leading network solutions provider, but also in its licensing model to make certain adjustments. Common licensing model is divided into traditional licensing and intelligent licensing, subscription licensing and perpetual licensing, understanding the difference between them and the relevance of enterprises to better choose the right solution for themselves.

What is the license?

In Cisco products, licenses are primarily used to legally manage and control the use of Cisco hardware and software products. To use these licenses, create a master account for your organization through the Intelligent Software Manager, and the issued licenses are automatically assigned to the default virtual accounts saved under the master account. Administrators can also create additional virtual accounts such as regional accounts, departmental accounts, and so on for later management and use.

Note that once a license has been issued to your virtual account, only devices from that virtual account can be used. If you need additional licenses, then you can re-register another virtual account to transfer unused licenses, and you can migrate devices between different virtual accounts.

How did these license classifications come about?

When network technology and management tools were not yet mature, traditional licensing was the main licensing model, which required ordering a feature license for the relevant product from Cisco, then downloading the license file for the corresponding product from the Cisco Center for Smart Software Management (CSSM), and then installing the license file into the device so that the corresponding licensed features could be enabled and used.

In terms of management, it is primarily a manual way for enterprises to manage licenses, record and track license usage for each device. In terms of cost, it requires enterprises to pay a one-time license fee to obtain permanent access. From the management point of view, it has a certain management complexity, such as requiring administrators to manually update and maintain the license, it is easy to miss the management or confusion and other problems.

However, with the development of network technology and the advancement of management tools, centralized and automated management has become the mainstream. Enterprises need a more flexible and efficient way of managing licenses to cope with fast-changing business needs, and that's when Intelligent Licensing came into being.

The use of smart licenses requires that you first order a functional license for the relevant product from Cisco, then obtain a token for the corresponding product from the Cisco Center for Smart Software Management (CSSM), then network the device and send a request to the Cisco Center for Smart Software Management (CSSM) to register the device, and then activate the licensed features of the device using the token, and then every month you need to communicate with the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) every month thereafter, and if the device does not communicate with CSSM within three months, the relevant licensed features will be unavailable.

In addition, compared with traditional licenses, smart licenses provide greater flexibility by allowing centralized management of all licenses through an intelligent license management platform, and real-time monitoring and tracking of usage. Moreover, smart licenses can be paid on demand, which undoubtedly reduces the upfront investment cost and provides greater convenience for enterprises.

These are the differences between traditional licenses and smart licenses. Then, in terms of duration of use, Cisco's licenses are further divided into perpetual and subscription licenses.

For perpetual licenses, the licensed features will be available forever as long as the license is not deleted after the device is installed. For subscription licenses, you can choose a period of 1 year, 3 years or 5 years, as long as the validity period, these licenses can be used normally. Once it expires, you can only purchase a new subscription license to continue to use the relevant features. On the other hand, subscription licenses are generally smart licenses that provide more flexible usage rules.

Overall, the formation of Cisco's traditional, intelligent, perpetual, and subscription licensing models reflects technological advances, market demand, and changes in enterprise management needs. From the traditional static licensing model to the flexible and efficient intelligent licensing and subscription models, enterprises can choose the appropriate licensing model according to their needs, and achieve resource optimization and business growth through rational management and use of licenses.